Emergency Spinal Surgery

posted: 29/Apr/2014

AN English violinist has criss-crossed the country to save the dog who tugs at her heart strings.

Jane Coleman flew 5000km to Melbourne - from Canberra via Alice Springs - to get Rosie to a specialist for emergency spinal surgery.

The music teacher has abandoned a national recital tour and forked out more than $12,000 to save red Rosie. But now she's stuck in Melbourne, homeless and wheel-less after selling her car to raise money so Rosie can learn to walk again.

The dog, 6, was suddenly paralysed at home in Alice Springs when Ms Coleman was in the ACT. She had just 72 hours to find a specialist vet to operate or the procedure could fail.

A dash to Melbourne saw vet Pete Laverty operate late at night and then drive the dog from Glen Waverley to Essendon for intensive care over Easter.

A specialist in severe spinal cord injuries, Dr Laverty was keen to do what he could for the dog and her devoted owner.

"It was a devastating injury with a ruptured disc between the fourth and fifth vertebrae and she was profoundly paralysed," he said.

"She was severely affected and unlikely to ever walk again."

Ms Coleman gave up her teaching job for a year to follow her dream of joining an international concert tour. "It's been good to see her excitement when I took her to the beach for the first time in her life for some exercise," Ms Coleman said of the recovering Rosie.

"And it was great when some friends visited with their five-year-old and Rosie wagged her tail for the first time, because she just adores kids."

Ms Coleman rescued Rosie in the Outback.

"I didn't even really like dogs - I've always been a cat person," she said. "But she was small and malnourished and waddling towards the road, and the rest is history."

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